The Sunderland Half Marathon .... write up
Having been struck down with flu earlier in the week we made no plans for achieving a particular time: "get round and enjoy it" was our mantra. Indeed it was only with the parkrun 5K the day before that I had any expectation I would even be OK to get round. Our race strategy therefore was: start at a pace we feel happy with, check what that is and see if we can stick to it ...
We made an early start to the event and were in the main Keel Square in the centre of Sunderland with more than an hour to spare. We thought it would risk being too cold ... we sat in Caffe Nero to keep warm. But there was bright sunshine and very little wind, so in fact the priority would turn out to be hydration.
We saw off the 10K run start (apparently led off by Daley Thompson's gold McClaren ...) and then made our way to the "1:50 to 2:10" flag (a nice broad timeband!) in the starting pen. There were around 1,200 folks taking part, so a relatively small crew compared to the Sheffield and Almeria numbers.
Some pep talk and then the delight of having Sunderland runner Aly Dixon (who represented GB at marathon in 2016 and now also in an upcoming 50km race) say a few words. This was probably the first run I was doing which was also being competed in by an Olympian. Indeed, it was great to be toeing the line with runners from famous north east clubs, including Gateshead Harriers (of Brendan Foster fame).
The first 5km loops around the centre of Sunderland - passing buildings Paula remembered from her childhood like the Musuem & Library, and Sunderland Empire - all in their Victorian splendour, despite the serious economic decline Sunderland has suffered from its heyday as one of the shipping and glass making capitals of the UK.
The first water stop gave us pouches of water - a great innovation since there was no top to unscrew, and they reseal automatically. So we carried them with us as we ran, using them to cool off as well as drink.
A longer loop went up past parks which Paula used to play in and then the furthest reach - literally at the point of turning at c10k was the end of the street where her dad grew up and where her Grandma lived up to the 1990s.
We had set out at c 5:20 pace and soon settled down to 5:15 or so. We felt comfortable at this relatively quick pace, and by 10k had clocked 52:30. At this rate (if maintained) we'd get close to sub 1:50
But as we reached the centre again - and crossed the iconic Wearmouth bridge, the heat and the illness told, since we slowed to 5:40 pace, and along the Wear I feared we would go slower and slower. But we rallied and as we headed past the famous Roker Pier and looped in Roker Park we stayed at this new pace.
To keep ourselves going we started a rhythmic chant of "Ha'way the Lads" echoing the crowds from the night before (whose non-stop songs and chanting had been mightily impressive).
And before crossing back over the Wearmouth Bridge again, we looped around St Peter's, one of the oldest churches in the UK - which dates to 674AD and the era of the Venerable Bede based here and in Jarrow.
We pushed on - with other folks around us also feeling the heat - and crossed in 1:52:23 - just a minute outside the time we had recorded in Sheffield, and 4 mins faster than Almeria (a very similar route).
We donned our t-shirts and took obligatory pics, then repaired to the Central Fire Station - now selling a fine selection of beer and burgers, with 15% discount on everything if you showed your race number (a fine innovation indeed).
All in all a tremendous half to have done - we are already pencilling a return visit into our 2020 plans
Half a Marathon onward ...
